Watching, Asking, Confronting
by Penulis
Summary: Marauder Era: Set in their seventh year, James and Lily are finally together, but not everyone is overjoyed with the pairing…
1. Watching

Marauder Era: Set in their seventh year, James and Lily are finally together, but not everyone is overjoyed with the pairing…

_I've pulled this old chestnut out of the vault and decided it needed to some work. It's been edited and had some additions made. Hopefully I will have the newer stuff I am working on out soon._

_This is just a hypothesis. An idea as to how things might have been. It's only a 4 chapter fanfic and it is my first so bear with me. I would love comments!_

_(Author notes will be in italics)_

**Chapter One: Watching**

Sirius watched in frustration as his best friend, James made out with his new girlfriend, Lily on the couch. James Potter and Lily Evans had been together for about a month and everyone had been surprised when she had finally said yes. Well everyone except the marauders. Sirius, Remus and Peter had been watching James slowly woo Lily Evans over the past year and finally his efforts had paid off.

Remus was overjoyed, he had wanted the two to be together for quite some time and he imagined Lily would have more of a control of James than any marauder ever could. Peter had attempted to seem happy when he heard the news but it was obvious he didn't seem to care. He really had not been himself over the past year. Sirius was of course happy for his best friend but at the same time a great sense of great worry overcame him.

Sirius had started to worry about the possibility of Lily actually saying yes to James since the beginning of the year. Would it mean he would lose his best friend? It certainly seemed that way. James and Lily were hardly ever apart, and when they were all James could talk about was Lily. Sirius and James hadn't pulled a prank all month, quidditch was hardly ever in conversation anymore and his interest in torturing Snape had decreased. It was all about Lily now "yes Lily, no Lily, just say when Lily… and up yours Sirius" he muttered to himself as he watched the couple on the couch. He didn't think a dozen Slytherins dancing around the common room naked would separate the two.

"Hey Padfoot!"

A voice snapped Sirius out of his reverie and turned around to see Remus taking a seat next to him at the desks. Remus cast his gaze over towards where Sirius had been looking, then smiled at Sirius and shook his head.

"Anyone would think you're some sort of sick pervert, the way you're always watching those two." he said.

"Moony you should know that would be nothing new." called another voice. Peter Pettigrew took a seat next to Remus. "Ouch" Peter yelled whilst rubbing his arm, "No need to get all defensive Padfoot, what's up his nose?" he asked Remus.

"None of your business" Sirius snapped "where were you at lunch today anyway? Not like you to miss an opportunity to stuff your face."

"None of your business" Peter retorted as he looked down at his watch. Suddenly he jumped off the couch and started for the portrait. "Have to go, see you later"

"Where the hell are you going now?" Sirius yelled

"Tell you later, I'll be late" and he scuttled off

Remus watched him leave with curiosity, but turned his attention back to Sirius when he sighed and put his head down on the desk. He noted Sirius was back to watching Lily and James with a slight frown on his face. His eyes stayed trained on the pair until they left the common room.

"What's wrong Padfoot?" Remus asked "You have been moody all week, is it your time of the month of something."

Sirius glared at Remus before starting, he knew he had to tell someone and Remus was one of the brightest people he knew. "Haven't you noticed that Jamsie has been spending all of his time with the blood nut?"

"You know James doesn't like you calling Lily that when you're teasing him, I doubt he'd appreciate it any more with those vicious overtones Sirius."

Sirius rolled his eyes "Yeah ok whatever but haven't you noticed?"

"Hasn't everyone noticed that Padfoot? They are dating now."

"But he never seems to spend time with us anymore, I mean we haven't pulled a prank in weeks! We haven't spent time together in ages"

"What are you on about Sirius?" Remus said with a frown "We sit with James in every class and lunch and sleep in the same dorm with him"

"Yes" Sirius replied annoyed, he thought Remus would of caught on to what he had meant by now, "But all those times, Lily is there too, we haven't had time when it is just us marauders, even when we are in our dorm all James talks about is Lily and that's not if she is up there with James anyway"

Realisation dawned on Remus' face, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen his jealousy before. "You're worried we're going to lose him aren't you?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean going to Moony?" Sirius muttered. He'd entered what Remus liked to call his brood phase. His arms were crossed, head looking downward with his eyes planted firmly on the carpet in front of him and his precious bands were hanging across his face. Oh and who could forget the infamous Sirius Black pout? Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation, he had seen Sirius like this several times. Luckily for him he was one of the three people who knew how to pull Sirius out of it.

"Care to share Sirius?" he asked

"No!" he mumbled and slouched further down the couch. Remus waited a few seconds…

"He won't talk to me about anything other than Lily! He won't spend any time with me! I've lost my best friend and blood nut's-"

"You like her hair colour, you're the one who gave James that line about her hair reminding one of beautiful autumnal-"

"IT'S ALL STUPID BLOOD NUT'S FAULT!!!" and with that Sirius stormed out of the common room.

_Well what did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Any major grammatical faults you've picked up on? I would love your opinion. The only way I will improve as a writer is if I receive some constructive criticism._

_Cheers for reading!_


	2. Asking

Marauder Era: Set in their seventh year, James and Lily are finally together, but not everyone is overjoyed with the pairing…

_I've pulled this old chestnut out of the vault and decided it needed to some work. It's been edited and had some additions made. Hopefully I will have the newer stuff I am working on out soon. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I really appreciate the advice._

_This is just a hypothesis. An idea as to how things might have been. It's only a 4 chapter fanfic and it is my first so bear with me. I would love comments!_

_(Author notes will be in italics)_

_In the previous chapter: After his outburst over Lily, Sirius has stormed out of the common room leaving a very bewildered Remus with his thoughts._

**Chapter Two: Asking**

Remus Lupin sighed as he slumped down on the couch previously occupied by Lily and James. He ran a hand through his graying light brown hair, furrowing his brow in frustration whilst gazing into the fire. Remus was the sensible one amongst his group of friends. He always he went through all the possibilities in any situation and he knew what was good for his friends. Remus was a natural observer. It was through observing his surroundings that he was able to make assumptions, assumptions which usually turned out to be right.

Remus had been watching his good friend Sirius for quite some time. He had made assumptions as to what was wrong and had finally decided to confront him. His assumptions, as usual, had been correct.

While he knew something had to be done, he didn't see how he could help if Sirius didn't want to listen to him. Someone else flopped down on the couch and from the light weight, perfume and blissful sigh, Remus didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Hey Lily" he said without taking his eyes off the fire "Where's James?"

"Quidditch practice" She replied dreamily, Remus couldn't recall ever seeing her as content as she had been these last few months. Personally, he thought Lily going out with James was exactly what she had needed. James seemed to bring some sort of overwhelming calmness into her world, something she had long been without.

Lily looked over and studied Remus, seeing the exhaustion in his face and the worry in his eyes, she sighed. To Lily, Remus always seemed to be carrying a great burden of some sort. Usually it was concerning James, Sirius or Peter but it was never a surprise to see him worrying about people besides his three closest friends, even Slytherins. That's just the way Remus was. Lily decided to see if she could help temporarily lift that burden.

"Remus, something's the matter, please tell me what it is" Lily asked.

Remus continued staring at the fire "It's nothing to worry you over Lily" he replied.

"Come on Remus… you know you want to tell me. If you don't I'll just sit here until you do"

Remus snorted "You can sit here however long you want, should I leave you to it?"

"I'll sit on you…"

"Feel most welcome to do so. I'll just wrap my arms around you and watch you placate an overly paranoid James when he returns. We both know it will take you at least an hour without my help."

Lily growled in frustration and decided to dig deep into the vault. "Alright, I'll… I'll sing"

Remus swiveled around to fully face her, cringing. He loved Lily, she was like a sister to him, but she was as tone deaf as they came. He had never heard the sound of a cat drowning before, but he was pretty sure it would sound something like Lily's singing. When they were on prefect duty together during their fifth year, Remus and Lily had found Peeves creating havoc in one of the classrooms. Lily had sung a few bars of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" and that had been well enough to get Peeves out of there. While he had been grateful to her, he had never wanted to hear her "sing" again.

"No, you wouldn't Lily." Remus said, eyes wide as saucers.

"Oh wouldn't I?"

"Not in front of the whole common room…"

"There, really aren't that many people in here Remus"

"Word will spread, everyone will know"

"So? I'm a seventh year Remus. My friends know and I already have a wonderful boyfriend who, for your information, thinks I have a wonderful singing voice". Remus snorted again. James thought everything about Lily was wonderful. If she decided to give up magic and spend the rest of her days pretending to be a duck, he'd still think she was wonderful.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Alright then, **morning has broken! like the first mor**-"

"Okay okay!" Lily smiled triumphantly as Remus grumbled and sent apologetic glances to the other students in the common room. When he turned back and looked into Lily's eyes he saw genuine concern, she really wanted to help. Remus couldn't help smiling, Lily was one of a kind, she had a good way with people.

"Ok Lily, if you must know it's Sirius…" and Remus began the long explanation. When Remus had finished Lily just stared at him, green eyes wide in disbelief.

"I…I never knew…I didn't think…" She stuttered.

"It took me a while to figured it out myself. Sirius has been disgraced and shunned by his family and pureblood friends. He has lost a lot in his life, but James has always been there with him. As you know, when Sirius finally left home, James was the first person we went to and ever since the Potters have treated him as their own. He has shown Sirius a fierce loyalty which he had never known in his own family, he regards James as a brother and now…"

"Now he is scared that he will lose all of that…that I will take James away from him…" Lily finished. "I never realised Sirius was capable of feeling… well obviously I knew he could… but the way he acts… I never really thought… that, that he would think something like that."

"Well he can, he does" Remus replied softly, he did not want to upset her any further.

"Oh Remus I never meant to do anything like that!" Lily started suddenly, frustration growing in her eyes, "I would never want to tear James away…"

"I know you wouldn't mean to Lily, but that is the way Sirius sees it. Think about it, you have been spending a lot of time with James."

"Well not really I mean there's…then well…and also…" Lily started to turn a brilliant shade of red "I suppose I have been spending a lot of time with James…" Lily gazed into the fire for quite a while before she finally stood up "Well, that's it then Remus, nothing else for it."

"I beg your pardon Lily?" Remus asked looking baffled.

"Well I am going to have to go and talk to him, explain things, work it all out."

Remus' eyes grew wider as he imagined what Sirus would say, or more likely do if Lily tried to "work things out" with him. Images of a screeching Lily being hurled into the lake or being chased around the castle by flying teapots floated through his mind. "Oh no Lily… I don't know… I mean you're not exactly his favourite person at the moment…" Remus started.

Lily rested a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly at him. "Remus you mean well, but I believe it's my place to do something about this."

"But Lily he-"

"Grumpy, vengeful, borderline psychotic Sirius or no…" Lily said firmly.

"Is she mad? She must be mad… really out of her mind… completely lost it… total fruitcake… loony… all the time she's spending with James… sending her around the bend… off her rocker… delusional…" Lily must have had an idea what Remus was thinking, because she started to laugh as she headed towards the common room entrance she turned around still laughing and said;

"It'll be fine Remus, let me talk to him. After all isn't that why you told me in the first place?" Remus realised she was right, he did want her to do something about it. Sirius didn't need more advice from him, he needed to hear an explanation from Lily, it was the right way to go about this.

Well he would faith in her. "Good luck" Remus murmured as Lily gave him one last smile before she left. He shook his head and allowed a small smile as he reclined back into the sofa. "She's still bonkers" he thought, but he was relieved one burden out of many had been lifted from his shoulders.

_Another chapter completed! Well what did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Any major grammatical faults you've picked up on? I would love your opinion. The only way I will improve as a writer is if I receive some constructive criticism. _

_Cheers for reading!_


	3. Confronting

Marauder Era: Set in their seventh year, James and Lily are finally together, but not everyone is overjoyed with the pairing…

_I've pulled this old chestnut out of the vault and decided it needed to some work. It's been edited and had some additions made. Hopefully I will have the newer stuff I am working on out soon. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I really appreciate the advice._

_This is just a hypothesis. An idea as to how things might have been. It's only a 4 chapter fanfic and it is my first so bear with me. I would love comments!_

_(Author notes will be in italics)_

_In the previous chapter: Remus has had a very in depth discussion with Lily on the situation with Sirius. Lily decides she is the one who needs to sort Sirius out._

**Chapter Three: Confronting**

Lily Evans walked down the long corridors, looking far more confident than she felt. Although she had known Sirius seven years she was slightly apprehensive about going to talk to him. Sirius had always been a mystery to Lily. She had always wondered what lay behind that handsome, elegant exterior. When she thought about it, all she knew about Sirius was that he came from a very old, rich and influential pureblood family, he was James' best friend and he could act like a complete berk at times. She had never really had a proper conversation with Sirius, everything she knew about him had come from James, they were practically inseparable. "Well they had been" she thought, "but things have changed…and that's what we need to talk about".

When Lily and James had officially started dating, one of the first things that James had told Lily was that she was the only girl he had ever thought about. At first she had scoffed at this, how many other girls had he peddled the same lie to? Yet Remus had confirmed this when she had asked him about it some time later, and Remus never lied to her. The though had resurfaced while they had been talking about Sirius. As she walked now, Lily started thinking again about how this would have affected Sirius. Imagine seeing this girl everyday then hearing about her all the time, getting caught up in all of James' schemes to get Lily to go out with him. Lily had been sick and tired with James' antics at a distance, Sirius was by his side every day, it must have driven him crazy! She had never thought that maybe she wasn't the only one who had grown tired and frustrated with it all.

Lily was pulled out of her reverie when her foot hit the first top stair of the main hall staircase. She hadn't had any luck finding Sirius in the castle and so decided to give outside a try. As her thoughts went to outside, Lily suddenly had a brainwave she could almost hit herself for not thinking of it before. She knew exactly where Sirius would be.

Sirius was leaning his back against the enormous trunk of the beech tree at the edge of the lake. He had a quidditch magazine and from a distance looked as though he was absorbed by its content. However if one looked closer it was clear his eyes were glazed over, his face covered with sadness Lily had never seen before and her heart instantly went out to him.

Sirius noticed a shadow hanging over him and looked up to see "blood nut" standing in front of him. His face immediately became masked with a look of indifference. "Hello Lily" Sirius said in the most civil voice he could manage "Lovely weather we're having"

Lily wasn't fooled one bit "mmm quite, mind if I sit down?"

"It's a free country" Sirius said spreading his arms out to indicate the space near him. Lily sat down opposite Sirius, and looked at him not sure where to start. She was hopeless at small talk but thought she may as well give a go. Hadn't her Mum always said that the best way to make people like you was to ask about them? What could she ask Sirius about… his family? No after what she had heard from James, Lily decided she wasn't going there. The weather? He'd already done that. Her eye caught the quidditch magazine in his hand, quidditch! She could ask him about that. He played for the team, didn't he?

"So… how's… how is quidditch practice going?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, the rest of his face remaining impassive as he replied.

"I was kicked off the team at the end of fifth year"

"Oh…" Lily felt her face turning scarlet. How could she have forgotten that? It had been huge news.

"_Because you didn't bother to remember anything about Sirius_" a little voice in her head said "_you ignored him completely_"

Despite knowing it was crazy, she couldn't help defending herself "But that was before when I despised James and Sirius, I don't now"

"_Yet you still don't know anything about him" _the same voice countered, jeering_ "nothing has changed there, you still ignore him…"_

"There was nothing like being told by your conscience" Lily thought. It was only then that Lily realised that Sirius was still staring at her, both eyebrows raised now and it looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Great, not he thinks you're even more bonkers than before. Get yourself together Evans! Don't let Sirius Black get to you! Say something! Anything!"

"Sirius, I wanted to talk to you about James."

All traces of amusement left Sirius' face and he returned to his passive expression. "James? What about him?"

"I think you know Sirius"

"Nope" Sirius looked away in another direction, arms now folded, holding the appearance of an insolent five year old. This did not discourage Lily, she just sat there gazing at Sirius.

"I know I'm not your favourite person at the moment, but this is important Sirius. Don't think of it as doing me a favour, do it for James. You owe it to him as his best friend to hear me out. I only want five minutes, ten minutes tops and then you can go back to the playboy you have hidden behind that quidditch magazaine."

Sirius shuffled, putting the magazine underneath him. "It's a fine piece of muggle literature you know."

"Despite the pictures not moving?"

"Despite that."

"Perhaps there's a potential market there for you to explore."

"Perhaps."

"Imagine, you'd probably be the most celebrated man in the wizarding world."

"I'd be heralded as a God."

"That too."

Lily and Sirius shared a small smile. Sirius remained silent, he lowered his gaze so he was looking at Lily and gave her a curt nod, his own silent way of letting her know he was ready to listen. Lily grasped the opportunity before her.

"Sirius, I want you to know, that I never intended to take James away from you, I still don't. I understand that you are his best friend and you will always fill a special place in his life that I can't fill."

Lily saw a small smile of satisfaction grace his face for a moment and knew she was on the right track. "Here's come the hard part" she thought.

"However, I also now hold a special place in his life. James also needs to give me some attention, and that is what he has been doing. I care about him just as much as you do Sirius."

"Yes but I'm his best friend!" Sirius burst out suddenly, now glaring at Lily. "I'm the one who has been with him since first year, I'm the one who he could tell anything, I'm the one that would get a detention if he had one just so he wouldn't have to sit alone! I'm the one that stuck by him through rejection and rejection from you. You! Who ignored him and treated him like dirt! Who said you hated him and seriously wounded him!"

Lily wanted to tell Sirius exactly why she wouldn't go out with James for all those years but decided to remain silent. She realised that this stuff had been on his chest for quite some time and needed to be let out. If that meant Lily had to be an audio punching bag so be it.

"I'm the one who helped him realise he needed to change for you, which is something I didn't want him to do, but I watched him do it anyway, just for you! Now we never spend time together just being us! When we are together you are normally there too and when you aren't he is constantly talking about you!" Sirius trailed off and looked down suddenly fascinated by the grass.

"Sirius, do you really blame me for all of that?" Lily asked meekly

"Yes…" he answered sharply then Sirius sighed and mumbled "No…it's not all your fault…"

"I think…" Lily said treading cautiously "That James also had a role in this…I think…he has also neglected you a bit…and forgotten you are his best friend" Sirius suddenly glared at her, she who was daring to accuse his best friend!!! Lily prepared for the verbal onslaught she knew was coming, but then Sirius sighed again.

"I…I know" He said "But he is my best friend…he isn't supposed to do stuff like that…"

"He may be your best friend Sirius, but he is also only human. He is going to make mistakes. You need to realise that. He isn't superman."

"What's superman?" Sirius asked. All traces of anger, sadness and frustration replaced with a look of pure curiosity. Lily stared at Sirius and suddenly started laughing, only Sirius…

"Oh sorry, I forgot you're only pureblood" She teased, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Hey!" Sirius protested trying to look serious, however he couldn't hold a smile back and also started to laugh. "So there is a wicked side to you Evans, you're not a complete loss then"

"Oi!" Lily exclaimed hitting Sirius playfully on the shoulder. They both held mock glares before bursting out laughing again.

"So Mr Black, do you think we can learn to get along?"

Sirius smiled, the first genuine smile of the day "I think we can" he replied.

Lily looked at him seriously "You know you have to talk to him don't you" she asked softly.

Sirius looked down at the ground, then back up at Lily. Although it would be hard, he knew what he had to do. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her another smile. "Yeah... don't worry Lily, I will."

_Only one more chapter to go! __Well what did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Any major grammatical faults you've picked up on? I would love your opinion. The only way I will improve as a writer is if I receive some constructive criticism._

_Cheers for reading!_


	4. Concluding

Marauder Era: Set in their seventh year, James and Lily are finally together, but not everyone is overjoyed with the pairing…

_I've pulled this old chestnut out of the vault and decided it needed to some work. It's been edited and had some additions made. Hopefully I will have the newer stuff I am working on out soon. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I really appreciate the advice._

_This is just a hypothesis. An idea as to how things might have been. It's only a 4 chapter fanfic and it is my first so bear with me. I would love comments!_

_(Author notes will be in italics)_

_In the previous chapter: Sirius and Lily had a heart to heart about James, and have decided Sirius needs to have a talk with James himself._

**Chapter Four: All's well that ends well.**

Lily Evans and Remus Lupin stood in the great hall with Sirius Black. Sirius was looking slightly nervous, something rarely seen.

"Is the great Sirius Black nervous?" Remus teased.

"Shut up Moony" Sirius replied "Are we sure now is the perfect time?" He asked directing his question mainly at Lily.

"Yes Sirius, he is sitting under the beech tree on his own. This is the perfect time to talk to him. Now, go on" Lily gave Sirius a little push towards the huge oak doors. Sirius slowly made his way over, when he reached the doors he looked over and Remus and Lily for a last time. Remus gave him a curt nod and Sirius returned it with his own then went out the doors.

Lily put a hand on Remus' shoulder and gave him a mock look of despair. "Our little boy is growing up Remus"

Remus laughed and smiled "Indeed" he said "Come on, if you want to see this I know just the window" Lily nodded and Remus lead her upstairs to a window that looked out over the grounds and gave them a perfect view of the tree.

By the time they had reached the window Sirius had reached the tree. He was sitting down next to James conversing and seemed to have lost his nervousness.

"Remus" Lily said causing Remus to tear his gaze away from the two under the tree.

"Did you ever think James would forget Sirius? Did you think we would eventually whisk away into our own little world and never see him again?" Lily asked watched Remus intensely.

Remus looked out again at the two people who had been his closest friends for seven years. He then smiled and looked at Lily "No of course not. Nothing could break a friendship as strong as theirs, James would have realised soon enough that Sirius was unhappy. Sirius would have just been fretting for another few weeks or so" Remus concluded breaking out into a grin.

Remus and Lily watched the two a little while longer and when James placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder and they both smiled, the pair watching through the window turned away.

I think we've seen all we need to" Remus said. "Lets give them the rest of the afternoon together eh?"

Lily smiled and nodded in agreement

"Come on Remus, I reckon I may finally be able to beat you at Wizards chess" she said, that mischievous look that Sirius had seen returning to her eyes.

Remus smirked "You think so? We'll see about that" linking arms with Lily, the two friends made their way to the Gryffindor common room.

_The end! That is where we will leave this little chronicle. Sorry it was so short, but I didn't think there was much else to say, and no one likes a story that's dragged out longer than it should be. I hope you all enjoyed it._

_What did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Any major grammatical faults you've picked up on? I would love your opinion. The only way I will improve as a writer is if I receive some constructive criticism._

_Cheers for reading!_


End file.
